Dakar 2016: India's CS Santosh out after stage 4

Broken navigation tower led to the retirement of the Indian rider.

CS Santosh, the sole Indian rider in the ongoing 2016 Dakar rally, is out of the race after stage 4 owing to a broken navigation tower on his Suzuki 450 Rally. The motorcycle reportedly also suffered some electrical issues.

After the first stage was cancelled due to bad weather, Santosh started the second stage from 127th position among the 136 riders and finished 97th in the stage. He finished stage 3 in the 61st position that helped him improve his overall position to 79th.

Starting at 62nd, Santosh dropped to 126th position in early stage 4. Being a marathon stage, with no mechanics allowed and no provision to repair the navigation tower, the rider somehow finished the stage at the 127th position with 2hour and 45minutes behind the winner of the stage.

Last year, in his first Dakar appearance, Santosh made headlines by finishing 36th overall out of 79 finishers, riding his KTM machine with an injured shoulder and a broken toe. He was the only Indian to participate in the Daker rally and finished it as well.

The ongoing 2016 Dakar rally started from Buenos Aires and will cover a distance of over 9,000 km across Argentina and Bolivia, ending in Rosario after 13 stages on 16 January.